Creation and Criticism

Dr Anuradha Bhattacharyya is author of three books of poetry, three novels, two academic books, over 100 poems published in anthologies and journals and 21 short stories published from Georgia, Texas, England, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. She has received the Best Book of the Year (2016) Award from Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi for her English novel One Word and a book-grant to publish her collection of poems My Dadu (2019) dedicated to her grandfather Sri Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya, Padma Shri, 2017. She has been honoured with Sahitya Shree from Kafla International at Udaipur, 2016. She was a distinguished poet in Haridwar Literature Festival, 2018. She is currently an Associate Professor of English in a government college under UT, Chandigarh, an appointment through the UPSC, India. She can be contacted at an6radha@gmail.com.

1. Love Flows

Love flows;

It flows into streams

Hurtling down in a rage,

Tearing down magnanimous claims.

Love grows;

It grows into branches

Forcing against brick walls,

Challenging enclosures.

Love floats;

It floats on the music

Of swift changes,

Not waiting to be told.

2. Friendship Calling

He called up in the middle of the night

To tell me the truth.

He called up saying

I need a friend to talk to.

In the morning when sleep is heaviest

I dreamed of him.

I called back to ask

If everything was all right with him.

3. Parrots

In the song of your twittering,

In the flap of your flapping,

In the thrust of your groping,

And in your mutual caring,

Comes the inspiration to hold on

To what’s given us

By chance or nature still.

Can God never be as merciful to man

As He seems to be towards you?

Your love and your answering to love

Make my heart yearn for the touch

That forsook me in my weak moment

Long ago.

I watch from my broken window

The lasting glue of your love…

Parrots, and a host of parrots

Rejoice in the cool summer afternoons

What I cast off in hasty winter evenings

As trifle.

Now I have only to thank you

For remembering

That God is merciful in nature.

4. Butterflies

They do not come in hordes.

They fly swiftly

We believe that they are in multitudes

Spread all over the world

Like blessings

Alighting on one

One day

And on another

Another day

To blossom forth

With delight.

A hope that never shakes

Its roots upon the grass

Of emotions

Is this butterfly

That is so beautiful

And yet so elusive,

So whimsical.

5. Peanuts

Peanuts, he exclaimed

As he drew his heavy breath

And shook his shaggy haired head,

Downcast and dismayed.

How can a man survive on peanuts?

With his pleasant visage

Diminishing behind his beard,

How can he mate?

Does man need to earn dollars

To strike a match in feelings?

With only peanuts to share

How can he his heart relate?